Jan. 18, 2009

WASHINGTON - The American University men's and women's indoor track teams competed at the Maryland Inivational on Saturday. The men's team was led by a pair of second-place finishes from sophomores Jeff Brannigan and Colin Eustis and a third-place showing from junior Dan King. Freshman Octavia Rinehardt posted an all-time top-10 performance in the mile run to lead the women's team.

Brannigan led a trio of top-10 finishers from AU in the mile run with a second-place finishing time of 4:15.62. Sophomore Conor Sullivan finished in sixth place in a time of 4:20.44 while freshman Josh Olsen took 10th in 4:22.95. Eustis finished second in the 3000 meter run in 8:38.07, ahead of classmate Garrett Martucci who took 11th in 9:00.62.

King ran to a third-place finish in the 800 meter run and moved into ninth place all-time at AU with a time of 1:56.85. Freshmen Chris Tonn and Alex Hula finished just behind King in fifth and sixth place, respectively, with times of 1:58.18 and 1:59.10.

The women's team was led by Rinehardt and junior Rachel Forcino. Rinehardt ran to a seventh-place showing in the mile run, posting a time of 5:13.14 which places her seventh on AU's all-time indoor top-10. Forcino placed sixth in the 3000 meter run in a time of 10:49.22, just missing 10th place on AU's all-time list.

The Eagles women's team also received top-20 finishes from junior Greta Wicklund and sophomores Haleigh Duggan and Melissa Tabas. Wicklund and Duggan finished in 16th place and 18th place, respectively, in the mile run behind Rinehardt. Wicklund posted a time of 5:40.17 while Duggan finished in 5:41.85. Tabas placed 17th in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:30.57.

AU's indoor track teams will compete again on Saturday, Jan. 31, as they split up between the GMU Patriot Games in Fairfax, Va., and the Thomson Invitational in Newark, Del.